Celtic kick off their 2023/24 Scottish Premiership season with a clash against Ross County on Saturday but will be without one of their standout stars from last term.
How much did Celtic sell Jota for?
Brendan Rodgers lost Portuguese winger Jota in July as Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad swooped in to sign him for a reported fee of £25m.
His former team Benfica also benefited from the deal as they had a 30% sell-on clause as part of the transfer that saw the exciting attacker join the Hoops on a permanent basis in 2022, which has netted the Liga Portugal outfit a cool £7.5m.
Jota racked up 11 goals and 11 assists in the league for the Hoops last season and formed part of an exceptional attack alongside Kyogo Furuhashi, who was the only Celtic player to be directly involved in more goals (29) than the 24-year-old star.
The Bhoys have been linked with a swoop to sign former Shakhtar Donetsk forward Tete, who recently terminated his contract with the Ukraine-based outfit to become a free agent, and the Brazilian gem could fill the gap as the Japan international's lethal partner at the top end of the pitch.
How good is Tete?
Celtic have an outstanding striker in Kyogo who has the quality to be a prolific scorer in the Premiership and Tete could be an excellent player to play alongside him as his form during a spell with Lyon suggests that the ability is there for him to make a huge impact for the club.
The 23-year-old whiz racked up eight goals and ten assists across 30 appearances in all competitions for the French side throughout his time on loan from Shakhtar between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns.
Only three Hoops players reached double figures for league goals and only two players – Jota and Matt O'Riley – managed more than ten assists last season.
Tete, who Rodgers signed on loan for Leicester City earlier this year, has proven himself to be capable of scoring and assisting goals on a regular basis from a wide position, like Jota did for Celtic, in a major European league, which could allow him to thrive in Scotland.
Ligue 1 is ranked as the sixth-best European league based on the UEFA coefficient, whereas the Premiership is ninth, and this suggests that the exciting forward would be taking a step down to play for the Hoops.
Therefore, the 5 foot 9 maestro could produce more goals and assists by playing at a lower level than Ligue 1, where his performances proved that the free agent can make a significant impact week-in-week-out from out wide.
This means that the former Shakhtar man, whose touch was hailed as "immaculate" by Rodgers, could be a lethal partner for Kyogo if he is able to make himself a Premiership star, as Jota did, by being a constant threat in the final third.
The current Celtic hotshot has already established himself as a key player for the Bhoys, with 35 goals in 43 Premiership starts over the last two seasons, and could form a new fearsome duo alongside Tete now that the Portuguese ace has moved on.